7.  The applicant was born in 1926 and lived in Grozny, the Chechen Republic. On 9 January 2003 the applicant died and his wife, Ms Ashat Ayubova, expressed her intention to pursue the application before the Court on the applicant’s behalf in letters of 31 January and 26 December 2005.
8.  The applicant and his wife, Ms Ashat Ayubova, are the parents of Mr Adam Ayubov, born in 1959. They lived in Grozny in their privately owned house at 17 Narvskaya Street with other family members. In the winter of 1999-00 the applicant and other members of his family left Grozny because of the hostilities. Adam Ayubov remained in Grozny to guard the house and property. He was married and had two children. Before the unrest in Chechnya he had served in the elite troops of the Ministry of the Interior and had held the highest sport title of the USSR.
9.  On 19 January 2000, during daylight hours, a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms arrived at Narvskaya Street in a Ural military truck. The applicant, who did not witness his son’s detention, referred to eyewitness statements of his neighbours to the effect that they were federal servicemen. According to the Government, they were “unidentified armed men in camouflage uniforms”.
10.  The men checked the residents’ documents and ordered three men – Adam Ayubov, Mr Sh. and a man named Oleg or Vladimir – to get into the truck. The neighbours who were present in the street tried to intervene, and for about 20 minutes obstructed the vehicle, asking the men in camouflage uniforms to release the three men and saying that they had not been involved in anything illegal. Despite their efforts the applicant’s son and the two other men were taken away.
11.  The applicant submitted with reference to his neighbours’ statements that about an hour later the same Ural truck with the same armed men in camouflage uniforms had returned and destroyed the house at 17 Narvskaya Street and two cars in the courtyard with a flame-thrower. The applicant produced photographs of his destroyed house and burnt cars and a list of his destroyed possessions (see paragraphs 40 and 41 below).
12.  Mr Sh. and the man named Oleg or Vladimir were released later that day. They stated that they had been detained by a detachment of the police special force from Novosibirsk.
13.  The applicant and his family have had no news of Adam Ayubov since that date.
14.  The applicant’s wife corroborated the above account of the events with two eyewitness statements made by Mr G. and Ms Kh. They both confirmed that on 19 January 2000 they had seen Adam Ayubov being detained by servicemen and taken away in a military Ural truck, and that the servicemen had returned later on 19 January and then on 20 January 2000 and had taken property from the Ayubovs’ house and burned a Volga car and a Niva car in the courtyard of the house. The applicant’s wife also submitted a written statement of one of her representatives to the effect that he had on several occasions approached Mr Sh. with a request to give a written statement concerning the events of 19 January 2000. Mr Sh. had confirmed the circumstances of that incident orally, but had refused to make any written statements out of fear for his security, stating that he had been warned by law-enforcement officials to refrain from describing that incident to any human rights organisations.
15.  According to Adam Ayubov’s sister, Ms Liza Azimova, on 19 January 2000 the Russian TV channel NTV showed an interview with Russian servicemen concerning the military actions in Grozny, which was recorded in the vicinity of the Ayubov family domicile. One of the servicemen mentioned the capture of a Chechen sniper, “a master of sports in shooting”, briefly showed a passport with that man’s photograph and stated that the sniper’s name was Arsanov [rather than Ayubov]. Ms Azimova insisted that she had recognised her brother’s photograph in the passport and that he had been the only master of sports in shooting in the Northern Caucasus, and that therefore the servicemen had been describing the arrest of Adam Ayubov. A copy of the aforementioned interview has been submitted to the Court.
16.  As soon as the applicant learned of his son’s detention, he and other members of the family started searching for him. On numerous occasions, both in person and in writing, they applied to prosecutors at various levels, to the Ministry of the Interior, to the administrative authorities in Chechnya. He also personally visited military commander’s offices and pre-trial detention centres in Chechnya and further afield in the region. In the letters addressed to the authorities the applicant stated the facts of Adam Ayubov’s detention and asked for assistance and details on the investigation.
17.  The applicant was given no substantive information from official bodies about the investigation into his son’s disappearance. On several occasions he received copies of letters stating that his requests had been forwarded to the different prosecutors’ services.
18.  According to the applicant, he had first applied to a prosecutor’s office in April 2000.
19.  In letters of 10 and 16 June 2000 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic (прокуратура Чеченской Республики – “the republican prosecutor’s office”) forwarded the applicant’s complaints to the Grozny prosecutor’s office (прокуратура г. Грозного).
20.  On 3 July 2000 the Memorial Human Rights Centre wrote on the applicant’s behalf to the republican prosecutor’s office. They stated the facts of Adam Ayubov’s detention, listed the neighbours who had witnessed it and asked for information about his whereabouts.
21.  On 8 August 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office forwarded the applicant’s complaint to the temporary district office of the interior of the Staropromyslovskiy District of Grozny. The letter instructed the district office to “conduct a full and thorough verification of the applicant’s complaint, in accordance with Article 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure” which obliged investigative bodies to verify facts stated in a complaint and to decide within three days whether a criminal investigation should be opened.
22.  On 10 August 2000 the republican prosecutor’s office forwarded one of the applicant’s letters to the Chechen Department of the Interior for “organisation of a search for a missing person” and another to the Grozny prosecutor’s office.
23.  On 18 January 2001 the Department of Justice of the Republic of Ingushetia, in reply to a request of Adam Ayubov’s brother concerning the whereabouts of Adam Ayubov who had been detained by servicemen on 19 January 2000, stated that they had requested the Ministry of Justice to check whether Adam Ayubov was being kept in any detention centre.
24.  On 28 March 2001 the applicant’s family submitted to the Zavodskoy District Administration of Grozny a request to investigate his son’s disappearance, co-signed by eight of his neighbours. The neighbours described Adam Ayubov as a good-natured man who had no links with any illegal groups and who had on many occasions risked his own life to help his neighbours during the hostilities in the winter of 1999-00.
25.  On the same day the Zavodskoy District Administration wrote to the Memorial Human Rights Centre, asking them to help the applicant to find his son, “who had been taken from his home on 19 January 2000 by the servicemen of the Novosibirsk OMON during a “sweeping” operation
26.  On 6 April 2001 the Memorial Human Rights Centre wrote to the Prosecutor General’s Office on the applicant’s behalf. Referring to their letter of 3 July 2000, they stated the known facts of Adam Ayubov’s detention and summarised the correspondence maintained by the applicant. They enquired whether a criminal investigation had been opened into Adam Ayubov’s disappearance, and requested an update on the proceedings. It does not appear that any answer was received to that letter.
27.  Referring to the information provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Government submitted that on 14 November 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office had instituted a criminal investigation into the abduction of the applicant’s son as well as misappropriation and intentional infliction of damage by setting fire to the property of the Ayubov family. The case file was assigned the number 12275.
28.  It also appears that at some point the case was transferred to the prosecutor’s office of the Zavodskoy District (Заводская районная прокуратура – “district prosecutor’s office”).
29.  According to the Government, in the context of those proceedings on 21 November 2000 an investigator of the prosecutor’s office had inspected the house of the Ayubov family. The applicant had been granted the status of victim of a crime and questioned on 24 November 2000. Following the applicant’s death in 2003, his wife, Adam Ayubov’s mother, had been declared a victim and questioned on 3 January 2005. The investigating authorities had also questioned Adam Ayubov’s brother on 6 and 10 January 2005, granted him the status of a victim on 10 January 2005 and declared him a civil claimant in the criminal case on 11 January 2005. The latter had produced photographs of the burnt property which had been included in the file of criminal case no. 12275.
30.  In their observations on the admissibility of the present application the Government stated that the investigating authorities had also questioned nine witnesses, the applicant’s neighbours and relatives, who “[had] confirmed the circumstances of Adam Ayubov’s abduction and stated that they had no information concerning his whereabouts”. According to the Government, it was not possible to identify other witnesses in the case.
31.  After the present application had been declared admissible, the Government refused to provide transcripts of any witness interviews despite the Court’s specific request to that end, stating that they had reproduced the contents of those interviews in their observations on the merits of the present case. They submitted in particular that Mr Sh. had stated in his witness interview of 12 January 2001 that on 19 January 2000 armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks had taken him, his neighbour Adam Ayubov and a man named Vladimir away and delivered them in a truck to the location of an unknown military unit, and that the next day he, Vladimir and a man named Akhmed had been taken to the village of Alkhan-Kala and released there. According to the Government, during that interview Mr Sh. also stated that there had been no identifying signs on the truck in which he, Vladimir and the applicant’s son had been taken away; however during his subsequent interviews he submitted that the truck had borne the inscription “Novosibirsk”.
32.  Mr Z. stated during a witness interview of 26 November 2001 that on 19 January 2000 servicemen had taken away three men, namely Sh., Adam Ayubov and the latter’s acquaintance, for an identity check and that later Mr Sh.’s mother had told him that Mr Sh. had been released.
33.  Ms Kh. who was questioned as a witness on 2 January 2005 submitted that on 19 January 2000 Adam Ayubov, his acquaintance and Sh. had been taken away by servicemen. She also described in detail the appearance of a man who, in her opinion, had been in command of that operation and indicated his insignia. Ms Kh. further stated that the registration plates of a Ural truck in which the three men had been taken away had been black with white letters and figures on them, including figures “2” and “6” and a letter “G”, and that she did not remember whether there had been any identification signs on the truck.
34.  During witness interviews on 7 January 2005 Mr Sh.’s mother gave oral evidence similar to that of Mr Sh., and Ms Z. stated that she did not remember the events of 19 January 2000.
35.  The Government also stated that the investigating authorities had sent a number of queries to various State bodies on 1 May, 30 August and 26 November 2000, 5, 8, 9, 11 and 12 January and 20 April 2005 and undertaken other investigative measures, but did not specify what those measures had been.
36.  Finally, the Government submitted that the investigation had been suspended and resumed on several occasion, but had failed to identify those responsible so far.
37.  Among other documents, the applicant’s wife submitted several documents relating to the claims concerning the destruction of property.
38.  A certificate of right to inherit dated 21 May 2004 confirms that the applicant’s property after his death in 2003 was inherited by his son, and that that property consists of a destroyed house situated on a plot of land measuring 469 square metres, which was held by the applicant under a contract of a building lease.
39.  A handwritten plan of the household at 17 Narvskaya Street represents a courtyard with the gates, two car boxes adjacent to a house, a summer kitchen and awning, and the house consisting of a lobby, a corridor, a kitchen, a boiler room, a bathroom, two living rooms and two bedrooms. There is no indication of any dimensions or general surface of the house or of any of premises depicted in the plan.
40.  A handwritten document dated 10 June 2005 and signed by the applicant’s wife lists articles of property destroyed on 19 and 20 January 2000 and indicates their value in United States dollars (USD). These are a VAZ Niva car (USD 5,000), a Volga car (USD 4,000), living room furniture (USD 6,000), bedroom furniture (USD 4,000), kitchen furniture (USD 2,000), twenty carpets (USD 3,500), two refrigerators (USD 1,500), video equipment and TV set (USD 800), chandeliers (USD 500), crockery (USD 3,000), lobby furniture (USD 1,000), a boiler (USD 400), sanitary equipment (USD 500), two gas cookers (USD 700), car spare parts and tools (USD 1,000), two air-conditioners (USD 600), current generator (USD 1,000), jewels (USD 10,000), clothes for all family members (USD 10,000), and household appliances (USD 2,000).
41.  Four photographs represent two burnt cars and a burnt house at 17 Narvskaya Street. According to the applicant’s wife, she was unable to submit documents for the cars, as they had been kept in the house and burnt there.
42.  The applicant’s wife also submitted a DVD with records of various family events in 1995 and 1996, showing the cars and some furnishings inside the house.
43.  In November 2004, when the application was communicated to them, the Government were invited to produce a copy of the investigation file in a criminal case opened into the abduction of the applicant’s son. Relying on the information obtained from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Government replied that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning the witnesses. At the same time, the Government suggested that a Court delegation could have access to the file at the place where the preliminary investigation was being conducted, with the exception of “the documents [disclosing military information and personal data concerning the witnesses], and without the right to make copies of the case file or transmit it to others”. In April 2005 the Court reiterated its request and suggested that Rule 33 § 3 of the Rules of Court be applied. In reply, the Government again refused to produce any documents from the file for the aforementioned reasons.
44.  In their additional memorial of 30 January 2007, however, the Government submitted copies of several documents which included:
(a) procedural decisions of 20 May 2005, 28 September and 4 November 2006 and 19 January 2007 suspending and reopening the investigation in case no. 12275;
(b) investigators’ decisions of 4 October 2006 and 19 January 2007 to take up case no. 12275;
(c) letters issued in 2005-07 informing the applicant’s wife and her other son, Adam Ayubov’s brother, of the suspension and reopening of the investigation in criminal case no. 12275.
45.  On 5 July 2007 the application was declared admissible. At that stage the Court once again invited the Government to submit the investigation file and to provide information concerning the progress of the investigation after January 2007. It also put a number of factual questions to the Government. The Court enquired, in particular, which units of the federal armed forces and/or security agencies had been stationed in the vicinity of the Ayubov family’s domicile at the period described in the statement of facts; whether the federal armed forces and/or security agencies had carried out any special operations in the vicinity of the Ayubov family’s domicile in January 2000, and, in particular, on 19 January 2000, and whether the possible involvement of the personnel of the Novosibirsk OMON in Adam Ayubov’s removal had been verified during the investigation in criminal case no. 12275. The Government were also furnished with a copy of the video material submitted by the applicant’s wife, and were requested to comment on it, in particular, to indicate whether the passport shown in that material belonged to Adam Ayubov (see paragraph 15 above).
46.  In reply, the Government refused to submit any documents from the case file other than those produced earlier and remained silent as regards the Court’s question relating to the progress in the investigation. They further stated that “there was no information concerning units of the federal armed forces and/or security agencies stationed in the vicinity of the Ayubov family’s domicile at the relevant period” and that, “according to the replies from competent State bodies, no special operation had been carried out by the federal armed forces and/or security agencies in the vicinity of the Ayubov family’s domicile in January 2000”. The Government also stated that the version concerning the possible involvement of the Novosibirsk OMON in Adam Ayubov’s apprehension had been checked, and that no such involvement had been established. In particular, according to a letter of the acting head of the Main Department of the Interior of the Novosibirsk Region dated 26 May 2005 in reply to a query by an investigator of the prosecutor’s office of the Zavodskoy District, “there [had been] no personnel of the Novosibirsk OMON in the territory of the Chechen Republic on 19 January 2000”. The Government did not produce a copy of this letter. As regards the Court’s question concerning the video material, the Government stated that neither Ms Liza Azimova nor Ms Ayshat Ayubova had informed the investigating authorities of the existence of any video record of the interview of 19 January 2000 referred to by Ms Azimova, and that therefore that piece of evidence had not been examined and included in the investigation file in proper time. According to the Government at present the prosecutor of the Zavodskoy District had been instructed “to take measures aiming at identification of persons possessing that material and its seizure”. They remained silent as to the Court’s question whether the passport shown in that material belonged to Adam Ayubov.
(b)  Letters from domestic courts
47.  The Government also enclosed a number of letters from various higher courts in Russia, stating that the applicant had never made complaints regarding his son’s detention, the destruction of his property or the authorities’ inactivity with the respective courts or sought compensation of the damaged inflicted on his property.